MOSCOW, September 29. /TASS/. Ankara calls for strengthening cooperation between the parliaments of Russia and Turkey, Speaker of Turkey’s Grand National Assembly (parliament) Numan Kurtulmus said in an interview with TASS First Deputy Director General Mikhail Gusman.

Among other things, hurdles to the work of the special commission on cooperation between the Russian Federation Council, or the upper house of Russia’s parliament, and the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, a body established five years ago, must be removed, the senior Turkish lawmaker said. "This commission has lately been struggling. We will perhaps address this issue at meetings with Mrs. [Federation Council Speaker Valentina] Matviyenko and Mr. [State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav] Volodin," Kurtulmus said. "I am confident that restoring these mechanisms and enhancing their efficiency will benefit the two countries in terms of parliaments and diplomacy," he added.